abrightboy: (figuring you out)
Malcolm Bright ([personal profile] abrightboy) wrote in [community profile] apocalypsehowcomm2022-01-04 01:12 pm

New Year, New You [OTA]

Who: Malcolm Bright and YOU
When: The first half of January.
Where: B1, ADI offices, around town.
Summary: Malcolm is aware that he has problems. Time to get rid of them for good! Because mental health works like that, right?!
Warnings: mental health struggles, vomit


There's a TV playing in the cafeteria at ADI when he goes down to get lunch after the new year. He's going to order soup; he already knows this. He's not even paying attention to the TV. He's lost in his own thoughts. But, as he waits in line, he changes his mind. Maybe he won't have soup after all. He's going to have a hamburger! And fries! Time to do like his mother says: stop all this nonsense. It's all in your head, Bright, he tells himself. That admonition is in a lot of people's voices from throughout his life.

He spends most of the afternoon in the men's room on that floor throwing up.

But Rome wasn't built in a day.

Back at B1 a few days later, he's staring at the tidy line of pill bottles on the kitchen counter. He's considering just throwing them away. He has to force himself to be normal; he can see it now.

At the coffee shop down the street, on another day, he orders his usual mocha and a big slice of chocolate cake. He'll try not to throw it up on the street but no promises. It takes time for a body to get used to new habits, is all. And if he's a little jittery, anxious, more unraveled than usual, well it's probably because he quit his meds cold turkey but he'll adapt. It's not to worry. He'll adapt.

Maybe he should stop relying on the restraints to sleep.

Maybe he should start going out to bars to meet people.

Maybe he should break curfew and crash with friends at Bonnie's.



Somebody stop him.
conning: (NealC 064)

[personal profile] conning 2022-01-30 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That hurts, and Neal can't put his finger on why. Not that Malcolm would assume that Neal wouldn't be there for him. That it's such an apparently uncommon thing in general. Neal draws him to a halt at a corner as the light turns conveniently red, then shifts enough to kiss Malcolm gently. It doesn't have the same frightened eagerness as before--this time it's purposeful, lingering. Someone passes by muttering about getting a room, and Neal ignores them.

He brushes his thumb over Malcolm's cheek when he pulls back. "You deserve it. But you're welcome."
conning: (NealC 198)

[personal profile] conning 2022-01-30 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
That gets a genuine smile out of Neal. "I'd love to. Don't tell the baristas, but you have better taste in coffee than their boss."
conning: (NealC 081)

[personal profile] conning 2022-02-10 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"You have priorities," Neal says, lightly teasing. He's feeling better the closer they get to ADI. "And no secondary income. I can help you with that."